HawgBeat's coverage of Arkansas basketball is brought to you by CJ's Butcher Boy Burgers, which has locations in Fayetteville and Russellville.
Arkansas’ hopes of making the NCAA Tournament took a significant blow Saturday night at Georgia.
Needing a win to get back on the right side of the bubble, the Razorbacks came out flat and couldn’t quite dig out of a huge early hole in a 99-89 loss to the Bulldogs in Athens, Ga.
Although it never led, Arkansas did cut Georgia's lead to one on three separate occasions in the second half. Each time, the Bulldogs answered within 20 seconds.
Two of those times came during a two-minute stretch late in the game in which it was a one-possession game. Mason Jones had a chance to cut the deficit to one point again, but couldn’t finish a drive and went down hard.
While he was still on the floor, Georgia took advantage of the 5-on-4 situation by pushing it down the court and Tyree Crump made a three-pointer to make it a six-point game with 1:35 remaining. That proved to be the dagger.
The loss guarantees Arkansas will end the regular season with a sub-.500 conference record, dropping it to 18-11 overall and 6-10 in SEC play with two games remaining before the SEC Tournament.
The first of those two games is Wednesday, when the Razorbacks return to Fayetteville for their final home game of the season. They’ll host LSU at 6 p.m. CT for a game that will be televised on the SEC Network.
It’s a rematch from earlier in the season. In a game that featured four lead changes in the final 38 seconds, the Tigers escaped with a 79-77 victory in Baton Rouge.
Sign up for an annual HawgBeat subscription and get $50 for Arkansas gear on the Rivals Fan Shop ––> details
Horrible Start
Arkansas bucked the trend of slow starts in its last game, jumping out to a big early lead over Tennessee. It seems to have been a one-game anomaly, though.
On Saturday, the Razorbacks were back to falling into an early hole. It was 14-0 less than four minutes into the game and head coach Eric Musselman had to use a pair of timeouts just a minute apart.
During that stretch, Georgia made 6 of 8 shots - with one of those misses resulting in an impressive follow dunk by Rayshaun Hammonds. It was his second bucket of the game and part of a 17-point first half, but 14 of those points came in the opening 10 minutes.
Although Arkansas managed to get within seven points after that initial burst, the Bulldogs ended up stretching it back out. A three-pointer by projected lottery pick Anthony Edwards made it 36-18, giving them an 18-point lead - their largest of the night - at the 8:24 mark.
Georgia was red-hot, shooting 15 of 20 (75 percent) from the floor and 4 of 6 (66.7 percent) from beyond the arc.
Sills Keeps it Close
Jalen Harris checked into the game following Musselman’s second timeout and knocked down a three-pointer to give Arkansas its first points, but another bench player kept it within striking distance.
Sophomore Desi Sills made back-to-back three-pointers following Harris to start what would end up being the best game of his career.
He actually scored 11 of Arkansas’ first 18 points, preventing Georgia from running away with it early on. Sills finished with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting - including 3 of 5 from three-point range - and also led the Razorbacks with six rebounds.
In five games off the bench this season, he is averaging 15.6 points on 63.6 percent shooting from the floor and 59.1 percent from beyond the arc. As a starter, Sills averaged just 9.4 points on 37.4 percent shooting from the floor and 25.2 percent from beyond the arc.
Joe, Jones Get Theirs
It wasn’t a great start for the SEC’s leading scoring duo, but Isaiah Joe and Mason Jones eventually got it going and finished with 26 points apiece.
Joe found his groove just before halftime. He scored Arkansas final 10 points of the half, including a three-pointer in the closing seconds that got the margin back down to single digits. All but two of his 14 first-half points came in the final 3:18 of the half.
Meanwhile, Jones didn’t do much offensively in the first half. He missed all three of his shots and had only four points, all coming at the free throw line.
That changed almost immediately after halftime, as he scored a quick bucket and knocked down a three-pointer to make it a three-point game 48 seconds into the half. That was the start of a 22-point outburst on 8-of-11 shooting in the second half.
Unfortunately, Jones came out of the game when he went down after his aforementioned missed shot in crunch time. He limped to the sideline and didn’t return.
Other Tidbits
~Edwards, who some experts consider the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft, also finished with 26 points. He added seven rebounds.
~Arkansas actually did a decent job on Hammonds after his hot start. In addition to scoring only three points over the final 10 minutes of the first half, he took just two shots - and made them both - in the second half and scored five point. That gave him 22 for the game, plus he had a game-high-tying nine rebounds.
~Joe, Jones and Sills combined for 73 points - or 82.0 percent of the Razorbacks’ total. The rest of team managed only 16: six for Adrio Bailey and five apiece for Jimmy Whitt Jr. and Harris.
~According to HogStats.com, this is Arkansas’ first loss when scoring at least 89 points since Nov. 24, 2009, when it lost to Morgan State 97-94. The Razorbacks had won 61 straight games when reaching 89 points.
